1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of evaluating a final equilibrium pH of a contaminated soil on site by using a paste pH.
2) Background of Related Art
In Korea, thousands of abandoned metal mines are scattered and mineral tailings and waste rocks discharged from the abandoned metal mines are neglected in many areas of the abandoned metal mines. Acid drainage and dissolved metal are discharged from the mineral tailings and the waste rocks to surroundings, thereby cause severe damage to the surrounding ecosystem of the abandoned mines and the health of a human being. Accordingly, the priority for rapid and effective contamination evaluation processes of the mineral tailings or the waste rocks discharged from the abandoned mines must be immediately determined.
In order to evaluate the contamination degree of a soil contaminated with mineral tailings or the waste rocks, the collection of the representative sample of the mineral tailings or the waste rocks piled up in the abandoned metal mine is important. In other words, standards must be established with respect to a scheme of reasonably and systematically collecting samples according to the characteristics (deposits type, mineral type, ground, or the like) of the mineral tailings or the waste rocks and to the number of samples.
Most domestic abandoned mines are distributed in mountainous territories difficult to access thereto, so that samples may not be easily investigated, collected, and moved. Accordingly, much time is spent to collect samples of the mineral tailings discharged from many abandoned metal mines distributed all over the country. In addition, as the number of collected mineral tailings is increased, the information of representative heavy metal of the mineral tailings exerting an influence on contamination may be more acquired. However, when an excess amount of samples are analyzed, much time and cost are required. Accordingly, a method of economically and rapidly evaluating a soil contaminated by the abandoned metal mine is required.
As a related art of the present invention, there is Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0571601 titled “BIOLOGICAL METHOD FOR CUT OFFING AND PURIFYING CONTAMINATED SOIL” (issued on Apr. 1, 2006).